Please forgive me breaking the longstanding format here. Current phenology is only useful if recorded and I’ve become historical. I will date what I include here as close as I can.
The title picture comes from June of last year, Two Humpbacks were cooperatively lunge feeding by Lincoln Rock. Neither were large as Humpbacks grow, but the smaller one was still a few times larger than my skiff. Whitetail is larger, possibly the mother, but Humpbacks are social and make and break temporary associations as the mood strikes. Friends, I think (Whales can be in intimate contact, when they are miles apart.)
If your bandwidth restricts you to just one video, I’d go for the last one.
At about 0:50 they turn back to the left, note the damage to the smaller one’s dorsal fin. (My shacks are in the background) August 07, 2016
Ragtail has been injured, by orcas I think. This picture, from August of last year, shows some of the damage done, and she has healed considerably from the first time I saw her. Parasite loading has decreased over the winter and she generally looks much better. I chose the healthier of the tail flukes to crop below. During the season the two whales were always together.
Whitetail and Ragtail parted company sometime around the end of October last fall.
Whitetail most likely went to Hawaii,
Ragtail stayed here all winter. I usually saw her pass by a couple of times a day. She even visited our harbor at least a couple of times per week. When the other whales started returning Ragtail remained solitary, that is not uncommon among Humpbacks. The ocean isn’t big enough that they can’t talk to someone.
She’s quite the clever girl. June 2017
Oct 2017, I was for a sunset shot. The pair came over to close my house and started fishing bait that was just at the surface, probably krill. They were using techniques I had not previously seen. Whitetail was using an extended mandible cocked sideways to just skim the surface. Ragtail was rolled
almost completely on her back and
just letting the surface water trickle
into the corner of her mouth. I think
these maneuvers to minimize the ratio of water to food, thereby conserving body heat.
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